All 10.0 - Yeto's Tidal Front
Three days after returning from the Northlands, Caitlyn and Ryuji were in Nara City, finalizing the deal that would culminate in a private LT portal being constructed in Nara for the Komatsu family's business use. The afternoon saw them taking a walk after a pleasant lunch. Suddenly, Caitlyn felt something behind her. The strap of her purse snapped, and as she turned, she saw a man running away with her bag. Without hesitation, the pair ran after the thief, chasing him to a dark warehouse. Meanwhile, it was quiet around a section of the warehouse district. A figure in dark clothes stole around the back of a particular warehouse: the location where he had tracked Ushio, a local leader of a band of thieves and current target of a government bounty, a bounty that the ninja aimed to collect. The back door was only designed to be opened from the inside, so the bounty hunter scaled the back wall to access the ventilation windows near the roof. Finding an open window, he slipped through expertly and landed softly on the floor, hidden behind the stacks of pallets and crates that filled the storage space. The sound of voices drifted through the room, and the ninja closed in on them in secret. Spying through the cracks between the boxes, he saw two men in work clothes, hanging about and chatting idly to each other. They mentioned something about their boss, and pulling jobs; the ninja felt he was on the right track, and prepared to take a hostage for more information. Lacing one of his shuriken with a knock-out poison, he crept up to them and tossed the sharpened metal star. Unfortunately, his aim was off: he missed the target entirely, and instead happened to strike the oil lamp that they had set upon one of the crates for light in the dim warehouse. The lamp shattered, setting the crate ablaze. The two men panicked, fumbling for their swords at their sides as the ninja took advantage of the confusion. He lept forwards from the shadows and struck with his katana, dealing a brutal blow to the first man, sending him crumpling towards the floor. The second man fought back, and the two exchanged blows, both parrying the other's attacks expertly. It was the ninja who dealt the first blow, leaving the other man staggering with a deep gash in his torso. Fear in his eyes, the wounded man turned and fled, running for the door. The ninja let him go, turning his attention towards the unconscious man, debating whether to deal with the fire or the wound. As he stood there, he heard a sound behind him. Turning around, he saw a third man, newly appeared, clutching a purse and looking at the scene with terror. He spied nearer to the door a young woman; she made the motions of casting a spell, but there was no visible effect. The man turned around and ran to the door in fright, shoving the purse at the woman as he passed; she followed close after him. Ignoring that for the moment, the ninja picked up the man and brought him outside. Finding the next-door warehouse to be locked, he placed the man in the alley between the garages and administered first aid, stabilizing him seconds before he would have breathed his last. Critically injured but no longer in immediate danger, the man would not regain consciousness for some time; the ninja picked the lock on the warehouse, carried the man inside and left him settled in some burlap to rest until the job was finished. The ninja turned and returned to the warehouse. Caitlyn, after following the thief and convincing him to stop for a moment, learned that the warehouse was a base of some sort and that the man had a boss who he had worked for for a little over a year, but that was all before he ran off again, the effects of Caitlyn's Charm Person unable to mitigate his fear. Shrugging, she went back to the warehouse to meet up with Ryuji, who had gone around back. Inside, she found the law graduate apparently putting out a fire. He explained that he had needed to break the door in, and had found this flaming crate and nothing else. Caitlyn explained the frightened thief and the ninja, the latter of which she pointed out as having just walked in. His cover ruined, the ninja joined the pair. They had a somewhat distrustful exchange: the ninja declared his intent to collect the bounty on Ushio, and Caitlyn showed an interest in helping him for a portion of the reward; Ryuji, for his part, appeared to be adjusting to his new reality as someone to whom dangerous, unlikely events occured to on a regular basis, and went to borrow the sword of the unconscious man next door on the instruction of the ninja. Beginning a thurough investigation of the building, they found that the crates were mostly just filled with rice. However, they managed to spot an anomaly: a faint magic surrounding one of the boxes. A tap from Caitlyn's foot revealed that it wasn't a box at all, merely an illusion of one covering a gap in the crates surrounding a trapdoor in the floor. Nodding, they unlocked the door and pulled it open, jumping down to the floor below. They found themselves in a tight, dark tunnel supported by cobblestone. Caitlyn's Dancing Lights lit the path and the ninja, whom Caitlyn was now referring to as 'Ninja Jim', took point; he took a few steps forward when a dart shot out from the wall, triggered by a pressure plate that he had stepped on. He managed to avoid the projectile, and Caitlyn took the lead to pinpoint the numerous pressure plates. When they turned a corner, Caitlyn spotted several pressure plates. She walked forward confidently, only to be shot by a dart from a trap she had missed. The ninja scoffed slightly and passed by her, only to get shot by a further trap. At this, Ryuji asked why they didn't just straddle the wall and ignore the floor altogether; this got him a pair of dirty looks from the others, who hadn't thought of the idea themselves. The group shuffled along the wall, turning the corner and making their way to a small room. The room was dominated by a pond that filled a large wall-to-wall trench, seperating the bounty hunters from the far side, where another trapdoor lay. Caitlyn spotted something beneath the murky water, and so sent her Dancing Lights to the bottom of the pool. In response, a large crocodile lashed out, thrashing at the lights. "Ninja Jim", who now introduced himself as Shinobi Nakamura, tried to cross, but the reptile's jaw deterred him. Beginning to speak, Caitlyn used her bardic powers to fascinate the creature, calming it and capturing its attention. The other two crept past; Shinobi triggered the magical trap on the door accidentally, experiencing a sharp, shooting pain. He opened the lock, the two men dropped down and Caitlyn, still talking to the crocodile, followed behind, closing the door behind her. The room they found themselves in now was tiny, dominated by six large crates. Three contained what they assumed were stolen goods: magical or valuable items that they guessed must value around 20,000 gold. The other three were more ambiguous, filled with smaller cases that each held six glass vials of a red, non-magical liquid. Caitlyn, suspecting the red flower, took three vials for evidence. Rummaging further, she found a piece of paper that had been slipped inside between the cases. It held a coded message, the particulars of which she recognized. Giving it a cursory translation, she found it mentioned this shipment and its street date, though she couldn't make out the specifics. It was obviously from the Riptide Gang. Caitlyn immediately implicated Cohen, and was forced to explain the situation to the Yetomen, who had little context for the accusation of the escaped criminal. Caitlyn became very defensive of her 'claim' on Cohen and the inevitable fame and fortune from his capture; she forewent her share of Ushio's bounty as insurance that Shinobi wouldn't go after Cohen's. Ryuji, taken off-guard by this information, pleaded that she not tell people to not track down or help with the capture of an infamous criminal. She finally agreed to accept Shinobi's help, if he would give it, provided he not take her credit or reward. He said he would think about it. The trio agreed that they should take the stolen goods with them, on the grounds that they should be turned over to the authorities; if they left them, it was likely they would be relocated since the storehouse was known to be compromised, thanks to the first man who fled from Shinobi. Packing them up, they hoisted the crates up through a second trapdoor they had found, leading to another tunnel, this one thankfully lacking in crocodile. As they pulled up the last box and closed the door, they heard a man behind them, demanding to know what was going on. It was Ushio, accompianied by the wounded man from earlier. The two drew their weapons, obviously in no mood to talk. Shinobi lept forward as Ryuji blocked Ushio's blade; the ninja quickly finished the job he started earlier, gutting the man with a single swing. Caitlyn worked her magic, greasing Ushio's katana. He managed to hold it firmly enough to slash at Shinobi, causing a serious wound before the blade went sliding out of his grip. Ryuji held out his hand, a soft light emanating from it, and his touch closed Shinobi's wound. Growling and taking hits from Shinobi's sword, Ushio pulled his wakizashi to replace his dropped sword, but Caitlyn cast Grease again. The second sword fell uselessly to the ground. Shinobi held up his sword, demanding Ushio's surrender. The thief spat in the ninja's face, earning him his final rest. With grim detachment, Shinobi cut off Ushio's head to give to the authorities. He claimed the magical gear that Ushio had been using, passing the wakizashi to Ryuji as a better alternative to the sword he was borrowing from the injured man in the warehouse above, which Ryuji doubtfully accepted. Gathering the stolen goods, the trio made their way down this new tunnel that apparently exited into the storeroom of a currently-closed bar. They went straight to the local police, where they delivered the goods, and reported the storehouse, the crocodile and the injured man. Shinobi collected his bounty, and Ryuji returned the katana he had taken from the unconscious criminal. As they left, Caitlyn remarked that she was moderately impressed with Shinobi's skills. She and Ryuji finally properly introduced themselves, and Caitlyn said that she would give the ninja a Sending when it was time to go get Cohen. Category:Advent of the All